Analysis of Wisconsin's policies

Wisconsin offers a broad-field science license for secondary teachers. Regardless of the science license (broad field, biology, chemistry, earth and space science, life and environmental science, physics or physical science), the state only requires candidates to pass the Praxis II General Science content assessment. Teachers with this license are not limited to teaching general science but rather can teach any of the topical areas.

Recommendations for Wisconsin

Require secondary science teachers to pass a content test for each discipline they are licensed to teach.By allowing a general science certification—and only requiring a general knowledge science exam—Wisconsin is not ensuring that these secondary teachers possess adequate subject-specific content knowledge. The state's required assessment combines all subject areas (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics) and does not report separate scores for each area. Therefore, candidates could answer many—perhaps all—chemistry questions, for example, incorrectly yet still be licensed to teach chemistry to high school students.

State response to our analysis

Wisconsin recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that while it does utilize a broad-field science test for initial licensure, its License Based on a Content Test pathway was developed for professional educators to add science licensure by demonstrating content knowledge with specific content area tests. Wisconsin also noted that initial educators must complete a major in the content area along with passing the broad-field test.

Exiting Ineffective Teachers

Pensions

How we graded

Research rationale

Specialized science
teachers are not interchangeable.

Based on their high school science licensure requirements,
many states seem to presume that it is all the same to teach anatomy,
electrical currents and Newtonian physics. Most states allow teachers to obtain
general science or combination licenses across multiple science disciplines,
and, in most cases, these teachers need only pass a general knowledge science
exam that does not ensure subject-specific content knowledge. This means that a teacher with a background
in biology could be fully certified to teach advanced chemistry or physics
having passed only a general science test—and perhaps answering most of the
chemistry or physics questions incorrectly.

There is no doubt that districts appreciate the flexibility
that these broad field licenses offer, especially given the very real shortage
of teachers of many science disciplines.
But the all-purpose science teacher not only masks but perpetuates the
STEM crisis—and does so at the expense of students. States need either to make sure that general
science teachers are indeed prepared to teach any of the subjects covered under
that license or allow only single subject science certifications. In either case states need to consider strategies
to improve the pipeline of science teachers, including the use of technology,
distance learning and alternate routes into STEM fields.